are expected to put migrants at serious risk of degrading treatment due to inadequate living conditions for beneficiaries of international protection. The court also noted that the COVID-19 situation and restrictions pose additional hardship for refugees, specifically to access the labour market.459 This judgment seems to be in line with the case law of both the ECtHR and the CJEU that confirms that it is not necessary to show ‘systemic deficiencies’ for a transfer to be unlawful and that any source of risk is reason enough.460 However, overall, domestic european courts have taken diverging stances regarding transfers to Greece.461 In 2021, High Administrative Courts in Germany, the Dutch Council of State and the Belgium Council on Alien Litigation Law all ruled that returning beneficiaries of international protection to Greece runs the risk of reaching the threshold of Article 3 ECHR.462 While still not formally suspending transfers, the Austrian Constitutional Court and High Administrative Court nevertheless both ruled that such transfers have to be assessed thoroughly, especially vis-à-vis access to social services upon return.463 On the other hand, courts in both Switzerland and Norway have held that returning beneficiaries of international protection to Greece does not infringe the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment. 464 Dublin returnees face serious difficulties both in re-accessing the asylum procedure and reception conditions (which are virtually inexistent) upon return.465 In fact, returnees face the risk of being subjected to onward refoulement to Türkiye, following the designation of Türkiye as a safe third country in 2021 (see Safe third country concept). In another case, a beneficiary of international protection was returned from Germany to Greece at the beginning of July 2021. The asylum application which the beneficiary submitted before the German Authorities was rejected as inadmissible, since his case had already been examined by the Greek Asylum Service, which recognised him as a refugee, even though the person was never informed about it. Although the Court accepted that living conditions for beneficiaries of international protection in Greece are “undoubtedly harsh” also taking into account that beneficiaries are not entitled to accommodation as provided in the case of asylum seekers, it assumed that healthy, single and young individuals would nevertheless somehow be able to survive under these conditions. Upon his return, the beneficiary was handed to the Airport Police Department and was provided with a 10-day duration police note. According to this note, he should visit the Asylum Service to proceed with his case. Eight months after his arrival into Greece, no residence permit has been delivered, no health insurance and tax numbers have been issued, no action for accommodation has been taken due to lack of identification documents.466 Finally, it should be mentioned that applicants who are subject to the EU-Türkiye statement and left the islands in breach of the geographical restriction imposed on them, will be returned to said island upon return to Greece from another Member State within the framework of the Dublin Regulation, by virtue of 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 Full case summary can be found at EUAA Case Law Database, available at: https://bit.ly/3VyJskz. European Parliamentary Research Service, Dublin Regulation on international protection applications, February 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2PLN19g, p. 57. See, in general, ECRE, AIDA, The implementation of the Dublin III Regulation in 2022, November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3smFIYS. See, e.g., German: https://bit.ly/3WCfeNM, https://bit.ly/3ZSjyd4 and https://bit.ly/3BWabhG; Netherlands: https://bit.ly/45I7aiH; Belgium: https://bit.ly/3rOuMD4 and https://bit.ly/45t5CZD. See, e.g., https://bit.ly/45snK4I and https://bit.ly/3ZQDnRp. See, e.g., Switzerland Federal Administrative Court, 8 October 2021, available in German at: https://bit.ly/3IEcLfM. RSA, Dublin returns to Greece, 21 October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3tHwi7T: ‘At the moment, the Greek reception system is undergoing a gradual transformation through the dismantling of open housing facilities in favour of large-scale ‘closed controlled centres’, while a coherent policy to support integration of people granted international protection is still lacking. Despite these circumstances, EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries continue to send thousands of Dublin take back requests to return asylum seekers to Greece. In line with a Recommendation465 from the European Commission, Dublin transfers to Greece are carried out following the provision of individual assurances by the Greek Dublin Unit relating to the treatment of returnees in line with the EU asylum acquis.’ RSA, Recognised refugee returned to Greece, destitute, forgotten and undocumented, 4 March 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3K0Mt6l.; See for instance, AIDA, The Implementation of the Dublin III Regulation in 2022, November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3smFIYS p. 23, footnote 85. 99